I had never realized how micoraggression affected my life until this course. The one microaggression that I have experienced is that I live in New Jersey and I am Italian. I have a very Italian heritage and many people in the area have always assumed that since I am Italain and have many influential family members that my family must be part of the Italian mafia. Of course this is ridiculous, if I was part of the Italian mafia, I would be alot richer than I am, LOL!!! I never realized how this affected me until this course. It never really bothered me until I got older. This is such a sterotype of Italians, everyone thinks that if you live in New Jersey or New York, and you are from an Italian culture and your family has money you must be tied to the mob.
Microaggressions can be very damaging. I really resent that fact that people think that because of my heritage, that I must have a family involved in crime. Now that I have a better understanding of what and how micoraggressions affect people I will make sure that I am more aware of sterotyping people according to thier culture and heritage. These assumptions can be very damaging to a person mental health.
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Diversity and Culture
I spoke to 3 people that were all in different parts of their life. Each one had similiar ideas as to what culture is.
The first person I spoke too was a caucasin women in her late 50's and was a stay at home mom when her kids were young. Her thoughts were that culture is how you were raised and all about family and tradition.
The second person I spoke with was a spanish women in her early thirties in the early childhood field. She said that she never really thought about what culture was or how it influenced her. She felt that it was important to raise her children with a strong sense of their spanish culture and family and traditions were very important.
The third person I spoke with was a man in his fiftys, who is puetro rican. He is very proud of who he is and where he comes from. He was born in puerto rico and feels that family is everything. Although he feels that he has definalty been influenced by the dominant culutre, he trys to keep up with his culture.
What I found by speaking with these 3 different people is that they all had never really thought about their diversity or culture much. They practiced what they were taught and there traditons were very important to them. The dominant culture where they live has definalty changed there culture and they do not always feel that there culture is accepted. Although they have strong beliefs in there way of life, they seem to keep it in their house, and not show so much of it in public. Family was the most important thing to them, and they all keep their culture alive with their family.
After speaking with them I realized that if people don't really think about how their own culture influences their lives then how do we teach our children to be accepting of others if we don't feel accepted. The man that I spoke too had such a strong love for his culutre, but since it is frowned upon he choses to keep it home. When I asked how understanding they were towards other cutlures, they basically said that they had never really thought about it and they only focus on their way of life. They all agreed that they need to accept everyone and be proud of who they are.
The first person I spoke too was a caucasin women in her late 50's and was a stay at home mom when her kids were young. Her thoughts were that culture is how you were raised and all about family and tradition.
The second person I spoke with was a spanish women in her early thirties in the early childhood field. She said that she never really thought about what culture was or how it influenced her. She felt that it was important to raise her children with a strong sense of their spanish culture and family and traditions were very important.
The third person I spoke with was a man in his fiftys, who is puetro rican. He is very proud of who he is and where he comes from. He was born in puerto rico and feels that family is everything. Although he feels that he has definalty been influenced by the dominant culutre, he trys to keep up with his culture.
What I found by speaking with these 3 different people is that they all had never really thought about their diversity or culture much. They practiced what they were taught and there traditons were very important to them. The dominant culture where they live has definalty changed there culture and they do not always feel that there culture is accepted. Although they have strong beliefs in there way of life, they seem to keep it in their house, and not show so much of it in public. Family was the most important thing to them, and they all keep their culture alive with their family.
After speaking with them I realized that if people don't really think about how their own culture influences their lives then how do we teach our children to be accepting of others if we don't feel accepted. The man that I spoke too had such a strong love for his culutre, but since it is frowned upon he choses to keep it home. When I asked how understanding they were towards other cutlures, they basically said that they had never really thought about it and they only focus on their way of life. They all agreed that they need to accept everyone and be proud of who they are.
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Thinking about what I would bring has made me realize how many items I have from my family that are important. If I only had 3 to chose from I would be leaving alot of my culture behind. The first item I would take are family pictures. Pictures of my grandparents, parents, children, friends and memories that I can never replace. I would also take an oil painting that was given to my parents as a wedding gift in 1969. Although my parents divorced, this painting represents my beginning and the love my parents once shared. The third thing I would take is a large crystal bowl that belonged to my great grandmother, this bowl has been passed down 3 generations. It is important to me because I would like to continue the tradition of passing it down in my family.If I had to chose one out the three items, I would chose my pictures, it is important to me to be able to share with future generations what everyone looked like, it will also help to keep memories alive.
While thinking about what I would bring I asked my husband what he thought. After thinking about all the wonderful things we had, we realized that there are very few items of importance. The most important thing is our family and our two dogs. We have an English bulldog named Shelbi and an American Cocker Spaniel, named Odie. That really surprised us, we have spent 25 years building a life and home. We have filled our home with so much stuff, and none if it is important. Why do we keep buying so much stuff!:) This has given me a little bit of a reality check, I guess there is nothing more important than your family, they alone will keep your culture alive.
While thinking about what I would bring I asked my husband what he thought. After thinking about all the wonderful things we had, we realized that there are very few items of importance. The most important thing is our family and our two dogs. We have an English bulldog named Shelbi and an American Cocker Spaniel, named Odie. That really surprised us, we have spent 25 years building a life and home. We have filled our home with so much stuff, and none if it is important. Why do we keep buying so much stuff!:) This has given me a little bit of a reality check, I guess there is nothing more important than your family, they alone will keep your culture alive.
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